Editor’s note: We’re starting a new daily roundup of news — ChinaOB Daily— affecting outbound business, for countries trying to attract Chinese travelers. This is our first step in a larger dedicated product down the road.

Costa Rica to ease up Chinese visa requirements: Costa Rica will make visa process more flexible to increase the number of Chinese tourists and business vistors….will add people in the Beijing and Shanghai consulates to process paperwork quicker…if Costa Rica could get 500,000 of them, it would boost tourism visits by 25 percent. Currently Chinese tourism to Costa Rica is very small because of visa problems.

Italy working on new easy visa rules for Chinese visitors: The new visa scheme is expected to ensure that more than 1 million Chinese tourists arrive in Italy during Milan Expo in 2015…tourists are expected to have a tailor-made welcome in Italy that includes Chinese-language brochures, Mandarin-speaking tour guides and even a Chinese-language tourism App for iPhone users.